Posted on 02/11/2020 7:23:22 AM PST by Red Badger
Feb. 11 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Tuesday approved a bid by T-Mobile to merge with competitor Sprint in a combination of the nation's third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers.
Judge Victor Marrero of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled against 13 state attorneys general who sought to block the $26 billion deal as potentially harmful to consumers. They sued in June 2019, even before the merger was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission.
The companies argued their merger was needed to compete against the biggest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon, and to complete a build-out a nationwide 5G network.
Marrero concurred in his ruling, noting, "The proposed merger would allow the merged company to continue T-Mobile's undeniably successful business strategy for the foreseeable future."
News of the approval sent Sprint stock soaring by 65 percent as the markets opened Tuesday, while T-Mobile rose nearly 9 percent.
"Today was a huge victory for this merger ... and now we are FINALLY able to focus on the last steps to get this merger done," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement.
"The T-Mobile-Sprint merger will help close the digital divide and secure United States leadership in 5G," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. "After the merger, T-Mobile has committed to bringing 5G to 97 percent of our nation's population within three years and 99 percent of Americans within six years." RELATED Texas departs lawsuit to block $26B Sprint-T-Mobile merger
As part of its approval, the Justice Department required Sprint to divest Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint's prepaid businesses. Also, Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to divest some of the wireless spectrum to Dish Network and make at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail stores available.
Under the settlement, Dish will be able to access T-Mobile's network for seven years as DIsh builds out its own 5G network.
The merger still must be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission before it can become official.
RELATED T-Mobile names new CEO amid pending merger with Sprint
The companies argued their merger was needed to compete against the biggest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon, and to complete a build-out a nationwide 5G network... As part of its approval, the Justice Department required Sprint to divest Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint's prepaid businesses. Also, Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to divest some of the wireless spectrum to Dish Network and make at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail stores available. Under the settlement, Dish will be able to access T-Mobile's network for seven years as DIsh builds out its own 5G network.
The streaming business is getting larger, gotta have the bandwidth, and Elon's LEO constellation ain't gonna quite cut it.
“Anti-Trust Laws, what are those?”
ROTFLMAO!
“One Phone Company to rule them all.”
ROTFLMAO!
“One Phone Company to rule them all. FCC “
ROTFLMAO!
“So two companies with crappy coverage just became one big company with even crappier coverage???”
Stupid comment!
“ Hope you like lag.”
Up-down lag to high earth orbit is about 0.5 sec total, plus the lag from point-to-point and that caused by the routing equipment, so a little over 1sec total. That’s good enough for voice and video, although you’d be dead soon in Halo.
Why is it a stupid comment? It’s the truth. Sprint’s coverage is terrible in rural areas. T-Mobile’s is even worse. The only cell provider with reliable coverage is Verizon.
“Why is it a stupid comment? “
Because you are living in the past and have no awareness of recent events.
Offset by much lower orbits and higher peer-to-peer density than typical communications satellites. It's an interesting concept. I can't wait to see how it performs in the real-world.
What recent events? T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T are garbage. Their coverage sucks hairy donkey nuts in rural areas. That hasn’t changed one damn bit. This merger won’t change it either. Many people out here with Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T can barely make phone calls indoors.
Sounds like we will get some deals.
I guess my T-Mobile bill will now go up.
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